Getting Stronger
by Maddie3100
Summary: A.U. where Harry isn't the chosen one and his parents weren't killed when he was a baby. He grew up in the Wizarding World. How different would his life had been? Will Voldemort still rise to power?
1. Chapter 1

p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"To someone who didn't know them well, the Potter family would seem perfectly normal. They didn't interfere with other people's business nor did they act in a strange way. They didn't stand out in a crowd and could often be caught chatting with the neighbours./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"However there was one thing about the Potters that made them different from everyone else. They happened to be magic. James and Lily had both been to the finest magical school in the world: Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Their son Harry was going to be going next year, providing he got his letter./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Harry had never been as excited for anything in his life; not when his father first taught him how to play Quidditch, the extremely popular sport, or when his godfather Sirius had bought him his first broomstick. Every morning he eagerly checked the post, waiting for the letter to arrive./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"On July 30th, the day before Harry's birthday, the letter came. It was the best birthday present Harry had ever received and he was so excited to know he was finally going. Of course he always knew he would be spending his teenage years there as he had performed quite a few unintentional magic tricks. For example when he was being chased by a dog he suddenly found himself on top of the bus shelter. Or the one time when Lily had redecorated the living room, but Harry hated it and suddenly it was back to normal./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Lily and James were ever so proud of him and as a birthday treat they would be taking Harry to Diagon Alley, a street where wizards do all of their shopping, to get his Hogwarts robes, books and most importantly a wand. Harry read the letter over and over again filled with excitement, that night he couldn't sleep and was so excited to be getting a wand./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The next morning, Harry got up and had breakfast. Once he had finished his plate of pancakes he found a large pile of presents waiting for him in the living room. He opened three and saved the rest for later. One of these presents was a large selection of Wizarding confectionary such as chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's every flavour beans. He opened the Bertie Bott's and shoved a few in his mouth deciding to put the rest in his coat pocket and save them for later. When he was dressed the family gathered in the living room and prepared to travel to Diagon Alley by the Floo network./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"They arrived at Diagon Alley at precisely 10.03am. The first shop that they went in was Madam Malkin's Robes for Every Occasion. They purchased Harry's simple, plain black robes which all first years had to wear before they were sorted into the houses. Once out of there they went to the bookshop. Harry walked inside and wandered over to find The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One shelf. There stood a red headed boy picking out one if the books and dropping it into his cauldron. He turned around and saw Harry stood there. "Bloody hell Harry, I nearly had a heart attack with you sneaking up on me!"/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""It's a shame you didn't." Harry replied sarcastically. They both laughed. Ron was Harry's best friend and they had known each other since they were little with their parents being friends way before either of them were born. As Ron was a few months older, he had already received his Hogwarts letter but today was the day that they would go and buy the school supplies together, which they had been planning for years. "Have you got a wand yet?" Harry asked Ron, looking into his cauldron to see what he had. br /"No have you?" Ron replied./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Nah but we can go together after can't we?" Harry suggested./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yep that would be cool." Ron agreed. They turned around just in time to see the bushy haired girl walk through the shop door./p 


	2. The Bushy-Haired Girl

p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The bushy haired girl flounced in through the doors of Flourish and Blott's. She walked straight over to Harry and Ron and pushed past them staring at the shelf with The Standard Book of Spells series on it. "Who does she think she is?" Ron whispered to Harry quietly./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I don't know but she seems a bit RUDE doesn't she?" Harry said loud enough so that she could hear./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I might be mistaken," the girl said in an annoyingly posh and innocent voice "but I'm guessing I was supposed to hear that?"/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yes, and what are you going to do about it?" Harry said rather arrogantly./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Oh nothing I just wanted to know who NOT to be spending my time with when we start at Hogwarts" she replied./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ron snorted. "And what makes you think we'd want to hang around with you?"/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The girl was about to answer but just then Harry opened his mouth. "How'd you know we're starting this year?" The girl sighed and rolled her eyes./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Honestly, your cauldron is full of first year books!" She looked over at the name on Harry's cauldron "Harry Potter." She turned to Ron "And you are?"/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""I'm Ron Weasley."/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Mmhmm well Ron and Harry, I'll try not to see you on the train. Goodbye." And with that she bought her book and was about to walk out of the shop when she turned around and looked at them. "Oh and just in case you were wondering, I'm Hermione Granger."/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"***/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"strongI am re-updating all my chapters because they were quite badly written and I have five more chapters to post after this one so look forward to it! Please review as they always help and if you have any ideas for the story that would be great! Maddie x/strong/p 


	3. The Journey

p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Harry and Ron completed their shopping that day. They went and bought a wand together, they were both eager to find out which wand would choose them. They entered Ollivander's wand shop, feeling apprehensive. Their parents waited outside as this was a special moment for them. Ron's parents had saved up for months, just so he didn't have to have his brothers hand-me-down wand. Harry, however, was given the money straight off his mum and dad, as his father was from an extremely wealthy wizarding family. br /When the walked in, the room was dark with just two gas lights hung up on the sides. The high walls were full to the roof with rows and rows of long wand boxes, thousands waiting for the right witch or wizard to come along. An old man walked out from what seemed to be the wall. 'There must be even more wands around that corner' Harry thought. "Welcome to Ollivander's wand shop." Mr. Ollivander passed Harry a wand to test. He waved it. Nothing happened for a few seconds and then all of a sudden at least one hundred boxes of wands fell off the shelf. "Nope! Absolutely not!" Cried Ollivander. Harry kept testing new wands until he found the perfect one that Mr. Ollivander was happy with./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Harry's wand was eleven inches, holly with a Phoenix tail feather core. His parents, whilst Harry had been purchasing a wand, had also bought Harry an owl which he decided to name Hedwig, after the famous witch, Athena Hedwig, who was noted for her discovery of the sphinx when she was travelling through Egypt./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Lily and James bought Harry a trunk which he would take to school with his initials, H.P, on. As soon as the Potters arrived back home, Harry put his trunk to use and packed all of his new school belongings./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Ron and Harry thought nothing more of the bushy haired girl - Hermione - that they had met. That is at least until the day of the 1st of September when they were boarding the Hogwarts Express on platform 9 3/4. The platform was packed full with people rushing about. Occasionally you would hear the odd "Bye mum!" From the older students, "I don't want to go, I'll miss you!" From the younger students and "Its not fair, I want to go this year!" From the younger siblings. Parents hurried around making sure their children had got all their bags and checking they hadn't left any stray potions ingredients lying on the platform floor. The large clock read 10.59 and mothers were pushing their children onto the train shouting their goodbyes through the window. The clock struck eleven and the whistle blew for the train to start moving. The wheels started to turn as the train left the station. Arms stuck out of the windows waving at parents they couldn't even /Harry and Ron were lucky and found a compartment all to themselves. The two eleven year old boys were sat, talking about the excitement of going to Hogwarts. They were both pondering about which house they would be sorted in - Harry was sure he would be sorted into Gryffindor - when they heard a scuffle in the compartment next to theirs. Curious about the goings on, they exited their compartment and looked through the window of next door./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"There they saw the bushy haired girl from the bookshop, Hermione, with a white-blonde haired boy grabbing her arm with a look of disgust on his face. "As if this excuse for a school actually admits Mudbloods!" The boy laughed cruelly. Hermione looked close to tears. Harry and Ron gasped when he said this. "We've got to do something, no matter how much of a nightmare she is!" Harry nodded his head in agreement. The two boys barged in to the compartment. "What do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" Asked Ron with a scowl./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Hermione looked shocked as the two horrible boys he met in the book shop stuck up for her, nobody ever did that. She was always the nerd girl with no friends who hung around on her own. Why were they sticking up for her now? Malfoy speaking snapped her out of her thoughts; "I just thought she ought to know my views on her kind." and he marched out of the compartment with his two friends./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""He's probably in with the Death Eaters." Ron said./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah probably" agreed Harry, they all seem to have similar thoughts on that subject."/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""What in the name of Merlin are Death Eaters?" Asked Hermione./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Oh dear," said Ron shaking his head "They are You-Know-Who's followers."/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Oh right, and who's You-Know-Who?" she asked. Harry sighed./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""You're not allowed to say his real name because he's an evil wizard, planning to take over the Wizarding world." Ron answered./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Oh. Right. Well..." Hermione paused, thinking of what to say next "Thanks for saving me but I could have handled it myself."/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;""Yeah it looked like you were handling it just fine." Said Harry and with that him and Ron walked out of the compartment./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"***/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"strongNext chapter is the sorting! Will they all be placed in the same house or not? Please review the story and if you have any ideas, feel free to tell me! Maddie /strong/p 


	4. The Sorting

p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The rest of the train journey was truly uneventful. Harry and Ron went back into their compartment and sat there eating their favourite sweets- chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's every flavour beans, droobles best blowing gum, sugar quills and many more - and talked about what life at Hogwarts would be like./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"When they thought they were nearing Scotland the two eleven year olds changed into their plain school robes. Their robes would change after being sorted into the colours of that house. Gryffindor: red. Slytherin: green. Ravenclaw: blue. Hufflepuff: yellow. Harry and Ron both wanted to be in Gryffindor as the rest of their families were and, in their opinion, it was the best house by far, being home to all the heroes and heroines of the wizarding world./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"***/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"When the train finally started to slow the boys knew they were at the Hogwarts train station. They stepped off to hear a gruff voice shouting "Firs' years this way!"/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Harry and Ron walked over in the direction of the voice and came to a large man who stood at seven, almost right foot tall. He had a large shaggy black beard and matted black hair. He was rather large around the waist and wore heavy coats which had keys overflowing most of the pockets. "That must be Hagrid, the half giant mum and dad were telling me about!" whispered Harry "Apparently he's really nice!" br /"Half giant?" exclaimed Ron "But I thought giants were meant to be vicious!"br /Harry just shrugged his shoulders as the rest of the first years joined them. br /"Righ' is everyone 'ere?" asked Hagrid. br /"Yep I think so." answered Ron and Harry who were stood right infront of Hagrid. br /"OK then. Well I'm Hagrid, keeper o' the keys at Hogwarts."br /Harry and Ron beamed up at him, wanting to get in his good books when they heard a purposely loud voice. br /"Father told me that this great oaf was expelled in his third year!" br /Harry turned around and, no surprises, the voice came from none other than Draco Malfoy. br /"Shut your mouth Malfoy." said Harry. br /"Ooh I'm scared, Potter, what are you going to do, throw your wand at me? It's not like you know any spells!" all Malfoy's cronies laughed. br /"And you do!" scoffed Ron. br /"Actually father taught me a few more complex spells before I came here." Malfoy replied. br /"Well anything is complex to you isn-" Ron said when another voice interrupted. br /"Well that's breaking the decree of underage magic, and doesn't your father work for the Ministry?" Harry and Ron turned to look at the person the voice had come from but they already knew, that annoyingly posh voice could come from none other but Hermione Granger. br /"And what would you know about the Ministry of Magic, Mudblood?" br /A few people around gasped when he said that and there were a few murmurs. br /"Obviously a lot more than you do." She replied, unaffected by the obvious insult. br /"Righ' well that's it. I'll be 'aving less o' tha'!" Hagrid said. "We'll get into groups of four to be riding in the boats with." br /Harry and Ron turned to eachother but they had nobody else to go with. The only people left were Hermione and a boy named Neville Longbottom. They all got into boats in fours and set off, heading across the lake. "Have you heard, there's a giant squid living in this lake! I read about it in Hogwarts: a history." whispered Hermione to a very frightened looking Neville. Harry and Ron both looked at eachother and rolled their eyes. br /Everyone was wonderstruck when the castle came into view. Harry even caught a glimpse of Draco looking in awe, probably a rare sight. br /Nobody said anything for the rest of the journey, probably because everybody was weary and they also wanted to take in the castle views for the very first time. They got close and it towered above them, high on the cliff looking grand. Hermione leaned over to Neville again, "Muggles can't see the school you know? I read about it-" br /"In Hogwarts: a history, yeah we know." Ron said to Hermione, who scowled at him in response. br /The boats pulled up and the first years stepped out and headed up to the castle, looking extremely nervous./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"***/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The first years crowded at the entrance of the castle looking around in wonder. The walls were made up of thick slabs of rock. There were torched burning in holders all around the walls and even though there was no central heating and it was such a big old room, the air felt as if a burning log fire was there. br /A tall, thin woman walked up to them. She has her hair in a very tight bun and wore emerald green robes and a pointed hat. She had a very stern expression on her /"Hello and welcome to Hogwarts." she said in a Scottish accent, "when we go through those doors on the right, we will enter the Great Hall where you will be sorted into one of four houses; Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. If you would like to follow me."br /The children all followed the woman through the large oak doors and entered a room full of older students and staff. There were four long wooden tables and at the end of the room were three stairs leading up to a staff table with a golden throne in the middle. Candles were floating in mid-air and the ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky. "The ceiling isn't real, you know, it's an enchantment. I read about it in Hogwarts: a history." Hermione was saying to a poor, girl who had the misfortune of being next to her. br /The first years gathered at the front of the room. The rest of the school was watching. Harry felt the butterflies in his stomach fluttering more and more as the names were called out in alphabetical order. A girl named Hannah Abbott was called out first, she was sorted out into Hufflepuff. Hermione Granger was sorted into Gryffindor. "Gryffindor? You'd think she'd be a Ravenclaw with the information about the school she babbles on about!" exclaimed Ron. br /When Harry's name was called out he walked up slowly and sat on the stool. "Hmm let me think." whispered the Sorting Hat in his ear. "Better be... GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted. The school cheered as he went and sat next to Ron's older brothers on the Gryffindor table. Eventually Ron's name was called out and he came and sat next to Harry after being sorted into Gryffindor. Other first years sorted were Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown and Hermione. Draco Malfoy had been sorted into Slytherin (no surprises there then) and do had his fellow cronies. br /The feast started and piles of food mounted up on the plates and they dove in. Harry and Ron were discussing which teachers taught what with Fred and George whilst Hermione listened to them intently. br /When everybody was full up and the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had made his speech, the Gryffindors made their way up to their common room, led by Percy Weasley. They neared the common room and came to a portrait. "This is the fat lady, you tell her the password an she lets you in. The password at the moment is flibertigibbet." The portrait swung forward and allowed the students in. They looked around and then went up to their dormitories, tired and weary after their busy day./p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"***/p  
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"strongI'm getting more ideas for this story now but they are ones for further on like in his later years at Hogwarts. If you didn't know, Voldemort and the Death Eaters still exist but they aren't as powerful at the moment and Harry didn't stop old Voldemort when he was a little baby. Thank you and please review, suggestions are always welcome. Maddie/strong/p 


	5. Midnight Duel

The next few weeks at school went by in a hurry. Harry loved Defence Against the Dark Arts and flying lessons. He was a natural born Quidditch star and he knew it. Harry and Ron made many new friends, most of them Gryffindors, especially with the people they shared a dorm with. If course they had enemies too, as Harry's mother always said, you can't get along with everybody you meet. Slytherin weren't really their biggest fans, particularly Draco Malfoy and his friends. Ron and Harry also didn't get along with Hermione Granger very well this was probably to do with the face that she always had her nose in a book about something or other or she would write extra long essays for homework. Ron and Harry didn't know why; but something about that annoyed them.

That was another thing that really annoyed Harry about school; the homework they got and some of the lessons they had. Harry's worst lesson was potions who was taught by Professor Snape, who went to school with James Potter, Harry's father. James had warned Harry about him and how he was a 'slimy old git'. Snape didn't like Harry back either and said that his arrogance rivalled even that of his father's. Harry took that as a compliment.

One good thing about school though was the Quidditch. As Harry was so brilliant at it, he was picked for the team straight away. He already knew how to fly, of course, and how to play the game which made him a skilled teammate. He was picked as the team Seeker which James and Lily were very proud of.  
However on this particular day, something weird happened. It started off as a normal day, the boys got up, got dressed, had breakfast and went to lessons. At lunchtime Ron and Harry were sitting eating lunch when Draco Malfoy walked over to the Gryfindor table and started talking to Hermione. "So what are you thinking about the school now?" Malfoy asked Hermione.

"I think it feels very nice and I feel very at home here." she replied.  
"Ha! You'll never be at home here, you filthy Mudblood!" he laughed.  
"What makes you think you're so special just because you're pureblood?" Hermione whispered. "I'll prove to you tonight that I'm just as good as you. I'll meet you at the top of the astronomy tower and we can have a duel."  
Harry was shocked at what he was hearing, Hermione Granger was suggesting they break rules? No way. Even Draco looked taken aback for a moment. "Ok then you're on," he said and held out his hand. Hermione shook it.

Later that day Harry and Ron decided that they had to stop this from happening. They might not like the girl but she was a fellow Gryffindor and would lose points for the house if caught. After a day of planning how they would do this, Ron had an idea. After dinner that night they went up to the dormitory and dug out Harry's father's invisibility cloak that James had given Harry specially for these rule-breaking moments (of course Lily didn't know, she wanted Harry to be the perfect student) and hid it in a secret spot in the common room which Fred and George had told them about.

Harry and Ron waited up for when Hermione came down the stairs and into the common room at midnight. They hid under the invisibility cloak and they followed her through the portrait hole. When far enough away from the common room Ron cast a silencing charm on her, which he had been practising, and they threw the cloak over her. They held her still so she couldn't run away and told her what they were going to do.

The three of them went up to the astronomy tower and waited for Malfoy to appear. He stood waiting for ages and then when he was about to give up and leave, Harry threw a rock at him. "OW! Who's there!?" he shouted. More rocks and stones, collected earlier at the lake edge, were thrown. Malfoy's face became more and more crumpled with confusion as the trip kept tormenting him. "Granger, is that you?" He shouted, his eyes searching the tower for the dark silhouette of Hermione. Ron stuck his hand out of the cloak and scuttled it along the ground and grabbed Draco's foot. He screamed and started crying so loud that the caretaker, Argus Filch, creeped up stairs with his cat, Mrs. Norris in tow. "What are you doing out of bed at this time, boy? Professor Snape can deal with you!" Filch said whilst grabbing Malfoy's ear and dragging him away muttering about how 'the old bats don't let me beat you in the dungeons anymore' and 'My chains are rusting they need to be used' despite Malfoy's protests.

Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed silently and went back to the common room. When they got there they burst out laughing really loud and couldn't control themselves for a straight fifteen minutes. "That was soo funny!" screeched Hermione.  
"I know, we should do it more often!" Ron replied. when they had calmed down Hermione spoke. "Thanks for doing that, I would probably have been caught and expelled if it hadn't been for you two." She smiled sheepishly at them.  
"That's what friends are for isn't it?" said Ron and they all started laughing again. There are some things that you can't share without ending up best friends, and getting Draco Malfoy into deep trouble was one of them.

**Thank you for reading this far;) if you are enjoying then as always please review and leave suggestions. The next couple of chapters will probably feel like everything is moving really quickly (because I already have them written) but trust me the story is nowhere near finished yet (I'll leave you to decide whether that is a good or a bad thing;)) Maddie**


	6. Christmas Time

The best part of everybody's year was Christmas. Especially Christmas at the Weasley's. The whole family would gather round the table eating turkey and cooked vegetables after opening presents that had been delivered by Santa the previous night. Molly Weasley did a perfect job of entertaining everyone, and everyone was a lot of people with a family as big as the Weasley's.  
Ron couldn't wait for Christmas. Apart from his birthday it was his favourite time of the year. All of his family were together, even Bill and Charlie managed to come over from their work abroad. The Potter's went every other year and this year they were going. Harry and Ron talked about nothing else than what they were going to do on Christmas Day; what games they would play, what food they would eat, what presents they wanted. School couldn't be over soon enough. Hermione was planning on going to her own home this Christmas, however the three of them were going to meet up on Boxing Day. The teachers had been in the Christmas spirit and not decided to set any homework over the holidays, apart from Snape who decided that his first year class would have to do an essay about the uses of unicorn horn in potions that was two rolls of parchment long and then added an extra two foot for Harry and Ron for answering back in class. Ron knew Hermione would help him with that.  
The day before they were due to go home, an owl arrived for Ron. He was anxious to see what it said as he never got letters this close to a holiday and going home. He opened it slowly and unfolded the piece of paper. In his mother's untidy scrawl it said-

_Ron,_

_You and Harry are going to have to stay at school for a couple of extra days until Christmas Eve._

_Charlie has been attacked on his way home by some of the Death Eaters. At the moment we do not know the severity of his condition. He has been flown to St. Mungo's and your father and I are flooing there as soon as we can. Please don't be worried just stay safe and we'll come and get you both on the 24th. I love you._

_Mum_

Ron was shocked at what he had heard. He knew perfectly wellthat You-Know-Who was at large, just like he had been for years, and that he was getting stronger but he never expected anything like this to happen to his family. He showed Harry and Hermione the letter.  
"I'm sure he'll be fine Ron." Hermione reassured.  
"How do you know that? He could be on his deathbed now, right before Christmas! What if he dies and it ruins Christmas for everyone. What about Ginny at home on her own now? Who will look after her?" Ron replied, his eyes starting to fill up with tears. Some of the people from the Slytherin table started to laugh at him whilst other older students have him looks of concern.  
Harry sighed "I suppose my parents are there too. He's like another son to them. Hermione's right though Ron, it's probably nothing life-threatening."  
As soon as he said that another envelope dropped into Ron's breakfast making all three of them jump. Ron opened it and saw that it was another letter from his mum.  
_Ron,_

_He's in quite a state. I'm not going to go into detail but I don't think he'll be home for Christmas. Anyway, change of plan, you and Harry are being picked up tonight and are coming to the hospital. See you in an hour. Love you._

_Mum_

_"_If she's taking me out of school early then that must mean he's quite a state. So thanks for the reassurance guys but like I said, you had no idea." Ron said in a flat voice as he got up off the bench. "Now if you don't mind I'm going to pack my trunk and I suggest you do the same, Harry."  
Ron marched off feeling worse than ever.  
He packed his trunk within ten minutes and sat down in the common room with Fred, George and Percy for the remainder of the hour. He was meant to be in Potions which would no doubt earn him a weeks worth of detention for missing, no matter what the reason. Harry had come and packed his trunk a while ago and then stayed in the dormitory to give the Weasley brothers some time to themselves. The portrait swing open and in walked his mother; a short plump lady with the Weasley's signature red hair. "Get your bags, we're going. Now where's Harry? HARRY! WE'RE GOING." she shouted. Ron could tell she'd been crying which made the situation ten times worse. Harry came down the stairs dragging his heavy trunks along the floor and they set off to Dumbledore's office to use a portkey that had been specially set up for them.  
They dropped Harry off at his house before going to the hospital. When they got there Arthur Weasley was stood outside wiring for them. He hugged Ron. "Good to see you, son." He murmured. They walked inside and Arthur lead the way to a ward and then to a private room. Before they walked in, Arthur took Ron to one side. "Be warned Ronald," he used Ron's full name "Charlie is in quite a bad way, he's still unconscious so the healers can't see what the internal damage is until he wakes."  
"If he wakes." Ron muttered under his breath.  
"Don't you dare say that, if your mother heard she would be horrified." Arthur scolded. Ron immediately felt bad.  
They walked into the room and saw all the rest of the Weasleys surrounding a bed. Ron walked forward and saw Charlie lying there, helpless, on the bed. He gasped at the sight. Just on his face he saw cuts all up the sides of his face. Both eyes were black and swollen and his top lip was so big you couldn't see his bottom one. His nose was crooked as if it had been broken and some if his hair was missing. Up his arms were cuts and bruises and Ron didn't even want to think about what was under the covers of the bed.  
The next few hours went by painfully slowly. Nothing much happened. A healer came in and took Charlie's blood pressure and temperature. One healer came in and told them how he was getting on. "We think he's been hit by some sort of spell but we don't know what yet. We won't be able to tell until he wakes up and we have no way of waking him up as we don't know the damage done internally. If we wake him up using magic then we could make internal injuries worse and he could go into what Muggles call cardiac arrest. It is basically a heart attack." The healer left and everyone went back into their own thoughts. Mr Weasley had a hand on Mrs. Weasley's shoulder reassuring her and Bill sat by Charlie's bad and held his hand. Fred and George were not joking for once and sat on the bed next to Charlie's with a serious expression on their faces,it looked out of place. Percy stood at the end of the bed with his back straight and Ron sat on a chair and just watched everybody. Ginny was staying at their aunts as she was too young and would get too upset. There was a debate as to whether Ron should have come to the hospital or not, but even Fred and George stuck up for him and said he was old enough to.  
Every so often Charlie would have a visitor and people would say how sorry they were about everything that had happened. But they weren't sorry, really, they just didn't want to seem rude.  
This atmosphere went on for all the days leading up to Christmas. Christmas Day was having to be held at the hospital as nobody would leave Charlie alone. The room had even been extended so that extra beds could fit in for everyone to stay. Ginny was brought to the hospital by their Great Aunt Muriel on Christmas Eve and started crying once she saw Charlie and she had to sit on Fred's knee as George reassured her. The morning of Christmas started out boring. Everyone had breakfast and opened their presents although no one was in the Christmas spirit. All the children got their Weasley jumper. At lunch they had the hospital's makeshift Christmas dinner but to Ron it tasted like plastic compared to his usual annual feast.  
This year Christmas was horrible. Nobody cracked a joke all day. Of course there were funny moments when the twins would crack a joke or Ron would trip over something or Bill would make fun of Percy for being such a 'pompous arse' however then everyone would remember the situation they were in and the atmosphere would be gloomy again.  
At around six o clock in the evening the family were sat on their beds. Bill, Molly and Arthur were sat around Charlie whilst Percy did and essay and Fred, George, Ron and Ginny played exploding snap. Ginny was just about to win when there was a quiet moan from Charlie's bed. "Was that-?" Ginny said, not daring to say his name. "Yeah." replied George in disbelief. They all ran over to the bed to see Charlie opening his eyes for the first time in a fortnight. They were just slits as the swelling had not yet gone down completely. "Where am I?" he whispered. "My head feels like hell."  
"Well your at St. Mungo's. it's Christmas day, you were attacked, do you remember?" Molly talked to him.  
His eyes opened as wide as they could as if remembering something.  
"It's him! He working for them, you need to stop him, it's important!"  
"Shh calm down its ok!" Bill said to him restraining his arms from waving about.  
"No it's not its him he's working for You-Know-Who!" Charlie said a lot louder now.  
"Who is?" Mr Weasley asked.  
"The Minister of Magic."

**Ooh I'm being mean and leaving it on a cliffhanger! I'll try to update as soon as I can but until then, as usual please review and thank you for reading;) Maddie**


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